Aperture
by benjammindeth
Summary: What would happen if the Borg decided to remove Picard from the equation BEFORE heading off to assimilate Earth? What about when Earth is not as they expect it to be upon arrival?
1. Prologue

First, the boilerplate disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Star Trek, just playing in the sandbox…

* * *

 _USS Enterprise_ NCC-1701-E  
Stardate 50890.2  
Somewhere in the Beta Quadrant

Captain Jean-Luc Picard had just taken his seat on the bridge when a wave of unease came over him. At first, he dismissed the idea as the usual jitters from a shakedown run of a new ship. When the feeling wouldn't dissipate, he sighed.

Commander Deanna Troi, the ship's counselor, whom had served under Picard for many years, sensed something was troubling her captain. Seated at the station to Picard's left, she asked, "Is everything all right, sir?"

As Picard turned to reply, he froze. The unease he had felt earlier was justified when he heard the whispers. Voices he had hoped to never hear again. The whispers simultaneously became louder and more garbled, as if many people were attempting to talk to each other at the same time. A couple seconds later, they ceased.

Wasting no time, Picard barked out, "Mister Data, scan the area for Borg ships."

Lieutenant-Commander Data, stationed at Operations on the port side of the bridge in front of the main viewscreen, acknowledged the order and set about his task. Troi had a very good idea what she was sensing earlier, but Commander William Riker, the ship's first officer whom Picard often referred to as 'Number One', asked, "Sir, what's happening?"

Looking haunted, Picard answered, "I heard them, just now. I couldn't get many details, but they're moving-".

Data interrupted with, "Sir, there is a Borg cube on an intercept course."

Picard ordered, "Red alert! All hands to battle stations!" At Picard's order, the main lighting dimmed, the alert lighting started to strobe, and the alarm klaxons blared. He turned to the helm and said, "Lieutenant Hawk, get us out of here, maximum-"

At that moment, the cube returned to normal space and locked on to the _Enterprise_ with four tractor beams. The shields would prevent one beam from locking on, maybe two, but not four. Picard ordered the Tactical officer, "Target the emitters, keep the frequencies changing, and fire at will!"

At the same time, Riker moved to open the weapons locker on the bridge and barked out, "All hands, prepare to repel boarders!"

Picard ordered Operations, "Data, alert Starfleet Command!"

The android replied, "Aye, sir." As his fingers flew over the console, he noted that nothing was happening. He informed Picard, "Sir, our communications are being disrupted."

Picard cursed, "Dammit!" He turned to the Counselor and ordered, "Deanna, take a shuttlecraft, SOMEONE must warn them!"

She replied, "Aye, sir." She rose and left the bridge to carry out her orders.

As the _Enterprise_ kept firing, one of the tractor beam emitters exploded. At that moment, the cube fired several pulses at the smaller vessel. The effects were immediate.

The Tactical officer reported, "Sir, shields have failed!" Before he could attempt to remedy the situation, he was engulfed in a Borg transporter beam, as were the rest of the bridge crew.

* * *

On the Borg cube

Captain Picard's vision slowly came back to him, but the scene was one from both memories and nightmares. He saw a surgical table, a drone that had had both arms removed to make room for tools, and green lighting. Before he could move, two drones on either side of him grabbed his arms and pinned him to the wall by his shoulders, while another drone took hold of his jaw with it's right hand.

This drone's left hand stopped mere centimeters from his neck, and two tubules shot out of it. They found their mark in Picard's neck, piercing it to reach his carotid artery. Their payload, millions of extremely tiny machines known as nanoprobes, went on their way from their previous host into Picard, with a course set for his brain.

As his skin started to turn a deathly gray, and his veins started to become blackened and mottled, his last thought as an individual was of Deanna Troi, desperately hoping she had escaped to warn Starfleet. Then he heard the voices of the Collective again, including hers, and the will of Jean-Luc Picard was no more. The drones restraining his body let go, and he laid down on the surgical table to receive the implants the Collective had already decided upon for him.

As he would soon learn, similar scenes were playing out in assimilation chambers throughout the cube for almost every member of the _Enterprise_ crew. Their last free thoughts varied, but in the end, the results were the same. Whomever they were before, was now irrelevant. Eight hundred and fifty-four new drones had been added to the Collective, eight hundred and fifty-four new voices in all their heads.

* * *

Elsewhere on the Borg cube

The first thing Data saw when he rematerialized was a pair of drones that appeared to be armed with shoulder-mounted weapons. He made to escape, and the drones fired. Data sensed his mobility systems being disrupted, and landed on the floor face first. Another drone pressed his deactivation switch, and Data briefly felt the emptiness of cybernetic oblivion before his systems shut off.

A drone whose left forearm had been replaced by a sizable claw assembly took hold of the android's cranium while another drone used the saw assembly on its right arm to sever Data's head. The clawed drone took the head to another chamber, while the armed drones picked up the rest of the android's body and hauled it away.

* * *

 _USS Enterprise_ NCC-1701-E  
Computer Core

The room was silent, except for the hum of the life support systems and alert klaxons. The machines continued to work, even though there was no longer a crew to attend to. Then a Borg drone appeared from a transporter beam.

The computer tonelessly repeated, "Intruder alert – main computer core." The drone, with no will of it's own, ignored that, as well as the klaxons. It lumbered over to the nearest terminal, raised its right arm, and injected the computer with nanoprobes.

Within seconds, everything in the ship's databases was known to the Collective, including the fact that the Federation had no clue about the existence of the transwarp conduit within one light year of their capital, Earth. Armed with this knowledge, the drone was returned to the cube.

Six missiles lanced out from the cube to strike their targets throughout the Enterprise. They struck, and the majestic ship exploded. The cube then departed from the wreckage and entered transwarp.


	2. Chapter 1

First, the boilerplate disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Star Trek, just playing in the sandbox…

* * *

Borg cube  
En route to transwarp conduit near Sector 001

A being stood, eyes closed, oblivious to its surroundings, inside what could only be termed an alcove. Above its head was a green disk with ever-changing strobes of lightning dancing over the surface. The alcove was surrounded by many others, built to identical specifications.

The being in question, while a drone of the Borg Collective, was somewhat unique compared to typical specimens of Species 5618. Most members of the species had fully organic eyes, perhaps genetically modified to eliminate congenital problems with visual acuity. This specimen, however, had cybernetic implants for both eyes already, saving the Collective the trouble of replacing the non-dominant eye with their own ocular implant. The nanoprobes had simply been programmed to bring the existing implants up to Borg specifications.

The same could not be said for the drone's left arm. The original had been amputated just above the elbow, and a prosthetic fitted with multiple tools suited to starship repair had been installed in it's place. It was only natural to the Collective, given that One of Fifteen, Primary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625, had once been Geordi La Forge, chief engineer of the _USS Enterprise_.

*One of Fifteen, Primary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625 – Assist with repairs to Holding Beam Emitter 013*

The drone's regeneration cycle being complete, its eyes opened. It stepped out of the alcove, took a left turn, and made for the emitter. The implants throughout its body, combined with the Collective, resulted in a robotic gait. However, its gait was interrupted five meters later when the cube shook slightly and the lighting flickered momentarily.

*One of Fifteen, Primary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625 – Determine cause of malfunction in Transwarp Coil 04*

Originally, the drone would have taken a left turn at the junction it was approaching. The new orders from the Collective caused it to take a right instead, heading deeper into the cube as opposed to the holding beam emitter at the exterior hull. Thirty meters later, it took a left, and was standing in front of a large cylindrical device with rectangular tabs jutting out from the center at ninety-degree angles.

The drone pushed several buttons, and the tabbed portion rose, revealing the transwarp coil within. A scan with its optical implants revealed nothing, so it raised the cybernetic left arm to access the coil with the claw at the end. A ninety-degree twist of the coil top, a pull, and the inner workings of the transwarp coil were on display.

Another optical scan revealed that the temporal field regulator had gone offline. After the Collective received this information from the drone, it ordered the cube to exit transwarp and come to a complete stop in normal space.

* * *

Unknown location  
Unknown date

A point in space, typically black except for the starlight visible in the area, quickly became green. The green light started to writhe and pulsate, as if preparing to expel something. It quickly opened up, ensuring room for the object in question to pass through.

* * *

Borg cube  
Unknown location

The cube exited the transwarp aperture and stopped. A drone, formerly of Species 5618, stopped in a corridor. Typically, such events would not occur thanks to the will of the Collective. However, the drone's programming had stopped it because most of the voices of the other members of the Collective had gone silent. Now, it only heard the other 100,853 aboard Cube 767.

This particular drone's right eye had been replaced by an ocular implant, but still retained both organic arms. The Collective had decided that systems diagnostics did not require an arm replacement. So it was that Reginald Barclay was now known as Eight of Fifteen, Secondary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625.

*Eight of Fifteen, Secondary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625 – An artificial construct has been detected in Grid 476. Configuration unknown. Relocate to vessel assimilation bay.*

The drone made a right turn, strode for twenty meters, turned left, moved another three meters, and stood in front of a large hangar. After beaming it aboard the cube, the artificial construct turned out to be a cylinder six meters in diameter and eleven meters long. Antennae jutted out from the ends, signifying communications equipment.

*Eight of Fifteen, Secondary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625 – Determine function of unknown construct.*

The drone lumbered up to the only visible screen on the device, and injected it with nanoprobes. The unknown construct was determined to be a communications array. The remaining Collective ordered the nanoprobes coursing through it to access the historical data on the network it was connected to. As they interacted with the circuitry, the remaining Collective realized that it had exited transwarp at the wrong points in space AND time.

* * *

Borg cube  
January 1, 2153  
50 AU from Proxima Centauri

Had any of the drones on board been capable of individual thought, they would have been in shock. From the limited data to be gathered from a single source, all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy were the same, but the history and technology were different. The structures known as "Mass Relays" applied electricity to an unknown element to manipulate dark matter and gravity within their fields of effect, allowing for launching a vessel long ranges nearly instantaneously. Given the lack of this element in the space they knew, the remaining Collective reached the conclusion that they had entered an alternate universe, and set out to start a new Collective in this place.

The two most pertinent points to the Hive, however, were that Species 5618 existed in this alternate universe, and had focused their weapons research on mass accelerators instead of energy weapons. While the cube's shields could withstand the damage for a time, they would eventually fail. Lacking the resources of the original Collective, the consensus was that the most effective adaptations would be to engage in covert actions, and reconfigure their standard Cube into a Class Four Tactical Cube.

They probed the connection to the communications network, searching for lightly-defended colony worlds to target first. Given the time and resources needed to reconfigure their vessel, and the publicly-available information regarding the combat capabilities of Species 5618, assimilating Earth was deemed to have a 5.17 percent probability of success at the present moment. So far, Species 5618, under the banner of the Systems Alliance, had only discovered a small number of the Mass Relay structures, including one stationed where the moon Charon was. The Collective discovered three colonies on what the Federation would refer to as a M-class planets: Demeter, Eden Prime, and Terra Nova.

Demeter lay within range of the "conventional" FTL travel this incarnation of Species 5618 used. While there were only six vessels stationed in-system, the presence of many more within the home system of Species 5618, combined with the attention paid to it as their first extrasolar colony, led the Hive to conclude that the probability of achieving their objectives was 18.72 percent.

Eden Prime was further from Earth. It was an agricultural colony, meant to provide resources for the inefficient process of eating. Another six vessels were stationed in-system, but mercantile traffic was a factor, and the access point led to a Mass Relay near the star Arcturus, where Species 5618 was constructing a space station and military fleet. The Hive deemed the probability of success at Eden Prime to be 26.93 percent.

Terra Nova, a "conventional" FTL jump away from Eden Prime, was claimed by Species 5618 simply because it was there, habitable away from the equator, and unoccupied. Known mineral deposits were nothing special, and the defenses consisted of four vessels. Even with reinforcements from Arcturus, the Hive deemed the probability of success at 46.05 percent.

The cube's scanners detected a signal from the direction of Alpha Centauri. Redirecting the long-range sensors, it was discovered that the signal originated from a colony of Species 5618, but there was no defense fleet, Mass Relay, or even FTL communications. Cross-referencing the records of Species 5618, it became apparent that the only knowledge they had of this colony was that a vessel was launched in the general direction 77 years before, by a wealthy individual named Victor Manswell. Communications with the so-called Manswell Expedition were lost shortly after launch, and contact between this colony and Earth had never been established. The Hive concluded the probability of success to be 95 percent.

The cube released the communications array back into space, the only trace of their presence being the nanoprobes that maintained their connection to the network the array was part of. The cube altered course, and engaged its standard warp drive.


	3. Chapter 2

First, the boilerplate disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Star Trek, just playing in the sandbox…

* * *

Cascadia  
January 3, 2153  
1.15 AU from Alpha Centauri B

The first thought to cross the mind of Dmitri Pavilchenko was, 'Ow, my head! I overdid it.' Next was, 'How is this possible? I am of Russian stock!' He opened his eyes, and the dark room was a relief to the man nursing a hangover. Finding the water bottle and ibuprofen he had left out for just such an occasion, he proceeded to pop four of the pills in his mouth and wash them down. He then asked himself, 'Is it wrong to feel too old for this at twenty-four?'

Like many of the younger generation on Cascadia, Dmitri was conceived by way of in-vitro fertilization. Even the wealth of Victor Manswell could not provide a large enough vessel to travel to Alpha Centauri B for more than 300 people. As a workaround to provide the needed genetic diversity to establish a successful colony, sperm and egg donations had been collected from all over Earth, to be put into cryogenic stasis along with the 300 people selected for the Manswell Expedition.

After losing contact with Earth, the ship continued on its merry way, arriving at Alpha Centauri B thirty years ago. The second planet in the system proved to be the most promising, so they had landed on the largest northern continent, in an area similar to the North Cascades on Earth. Despite the differing genetic bases, there were forests full of plant life and game, lakes and rivers teeming with life, and plenty of mountains.

The first year was spent establishing the basic structures of the colony, such as temporary barracks (later converted to warehouses), the power plant, water purification center, and medical center. The second year was spent establishing farms and ranches to make the colony self-sufficient, along with establishing bag limits to prevent stripping the area of fish and game. After that, the next phase of the project began: expanding the population.

Try as they might, humanity had not made any substantial progress on artificial wombs when Victor Manswell put the expedition together, so he took another approach: When he was recruiting the initial settlers, he only accepted women whom would volunteer to bring several babies to term via in-vitro fertilization. Amazingly, he managed to get 150 volunteers for the role, whom would complement the 150 men on the ship, including Victor himself.

Dmitri actually worked alongside Kishi Yamamoto, his mother in all but DNA, in the water purification center. He was the second child she had carried, while the first was now working in the power plant. After a shower, Dmitri sat down to breakfast, which consisted of a sandwich comprised of Cascadia's equivalents of bacon, eggs, and cheese on toast made from a grain crop similar to wheat that had been found native to the planet.

When he took a drink from his water glass, he noticed a metallic tang to it. He thought, 'What the hell? I washed the dishes last night.' He retrieved the water bottle from his bedroom and took a drink. 'That tastes right. May as well finish this before I try the tap water in here.' After finishing the bottle, he took it to the tap and added a small amount of water. All that, and he still tasted metal, 'I'd better ask mother what's going on.'

Dmitri grabbed his Personal Cortex Terminal, a natural outgrowth of the smartphones of the early 21st century on Earth. Even though implants for voice communications were available, most people on Cascadia preferred the PCT's, though the security forces loved having both options. Dmitri scrolled through his contacts and pressed the virtual button to set up a video call with Kishi.

* * *

Cascadia  
January 3, 2153  
Water Treatment Facility

Kishi Yamamoto was frustrated. She had spent the past four hours trying to troubleshoot the water purification systems after half of the people on Cascadia called in with concerns about metallic-tasting water. She had already checked over all the system components twice each, and had not found any faults. She thought to herself, 'Maybe there's something in the pipes?' Before she could muse on the idea any further, her PCT started to vibrate.

Before she saw the caller ID, she thought, 'Great, someone else-' She looked at the screen - 'Dmitri? Hope you're up for some early overtime.' She went to press the button to answer…


	4. Chapter 3

First, the boilerplate disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Star Trek, just playing in the sandbox…

Second, my apologies for the delay. Extreme case of writer's block combined with real life...

* * *

Borg cube  
January 3, 2153  
3 AU from Cascadia

Deep within the vessel, a drone's eyes opened at the end of its regeneration cycle. Stepping out of the alcove, the former member of Species 5618 spun to the right and lurched forward for three meters, turned left, then went fourteen more into a room with a computer terminal. The screen was displaying a status report on the introduction of nanoprobes into the water supply of the settlement on the inhabited planet in orbit of Alpha Centauri B. Information obtained by another drone revealed that the inhabitants called it "Cascadia," in reference to a mountainous region of Earth.

Not that the sentiment mattered to Three of Fifteen, Primary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625. Formerly known as Sonya Gomez, the drone cared not a whit for naming practices, or anything else. It's assignment from the Collective was to monitor how quickly the modified nanoprobes spread to the population via drinking water. The display showed that the nanoprobes had been ingested by 78 percent of the population overall, with 94 percent of those being ready to take over the minds of their hosts upon receiving the command from the Collective.

The concept of "poisoning the well" with nanoprobes had been introduced to the Collective in recent years by assimilating a member of Species 3783. Prior to this, the Romulan man had been a member of the Tal Shiar, whom had been ordered to commit such a deed against Species 5008 in one of the (offscreen to the public) spats between the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire. He accomplished his mission, only to be assimilated by a Cube in the Neutral Zone on his way back to Romulan space. The nanoprobes, while inferior to Borg technology, acquitted themselves well, shredding Klingon bodies from the inside.

Given the recent disconnection from the Collective experienced by Cube 767, and the kinetically-armed variant of Species 5618 present in this new universe, the new Collective aboard the cube decided that a thorough review of subversive methods of eliminating one's enemies was in order, with the goal of modifying said methods to assimilate rather than kill. Wasting potential drones was inefficient.

A normally-green symbol in the upper right corner of the screen in front of Three of Fifteen started flashing yellow, indicating that at least one member of the populace on Cascadia was suspicious of the metallic tang their water had taken on from the nanoprobes. According to records assimilated from the water treatment facility, the groundwater source was slightly acidic, but not enough to impart a metallic taste.

The center of the screen changed to display a member of Species 5618 that had ingested the nanoprobes, but not enough to take over immediately. The Collective decided that this problematic individual, designated Kishi Yamamoto, was to be assimilated immediately.

* * *

Cascadia  
Water Treatment Facility

Kishi was about to answer the call on her PCT when she saw her hand start to glow green. She only had time to think to herself, 'What the Hell?' before she disappeared from where she was standing. Without Kishi to hold it up, her PCT dropped to the floor, still showing an incoming call.

* * *

Borg cube

Kishi's vision started to return, albeit tinged green. She was disorientated, from whatever just happened to her, but could see that the green tint was not just from her recent experience, but the lighting in the room. The room itself was not the focus of her attention, but the being in front of her was.

It looked like a human woman, but with her head shaven, like someone undergoing the old "treatment" for cancer, known as chemotherapy. Her skin had taken on a deathly gray pallor, with what looked like black blood vessels marring what little skin was showing. Her left eye was obscured by some kind of cybernetic gear, which Kishi noticed this poor woman had all over her body. The, former woman, had an Oriental look about what facial features remained visible.

That was all Kishi was able to take in about the being in front of her when another one grabbed her face with it's left hand and raised it's right to her neck. She felt two pinpricks, that she knew from her layperson's research of anatomy had pierced her carotid artery, and she felt something being injected. After a couple seconds, the intruding objects had withdrawn from her neck, and the being released her to collapse on the floor.

When Kishi hit the floor, she heard something, like a voice in her head. A couple seconds later, it sounded like a cacophony, all speaking at her simultaneously. She also noticed that her limbs wouldn't respond, hence that she was still on the floor.

Then she noticed that she knew the identity of the first being she saw when she arrived in the room. Two of Thirteen, Tertiary Assimilator of Trimatrix 625, had been human once. Before her assimilation, her name was Alyssa Ogawa, and she was the head nurse on a starship. To Kishi's horror, she could remember Alyssa lying on the assimilation table, with another drone plucking her left eyeball out, then cutting it off at the juncture between the optic nerve and the eyeball. She quickly prayed to any deity that would listen, that she didn't share a similar fate.

The nanoprobes established the necessary connections to fully control Kishi within thirteen seconds from the drone's injection. Pushing herself up from the floor, Kishi Yamamoto was no more. One of Five, Quaternary Adjunct of Trimatrix 625, took her place.


	5. Chapter 4

First, the boilerplate disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Star Trek, just playing in the sandbox…

Second, my apologies for the delay. I've been learning the ropes at a new position at my job, and working on buying a house.

* * *

SSV Manassas  
February 23, 2153  
50 AU from Proxima Centauri

Captain Bjorn Hansen released a sigh. He had transferred to the Systems Alliance Navy from his previous posting in the United States Navy with the hope of exploring uncharted space, and protecting humanity as they spread from Earth. He knew that some assignments would be less inclined to that ideal, but being sent to replace a communications buoy in the direction of the lost Manswell Expedition took the cake.

The executive officer of the SSV Manassas, Commander Roger Jackson, asked his superior officer, "Sir, I'm given to understand that the buoy in this direction is acting weird. Did HQ clarify anything on that point?"

Bjorn replied, "No, but they sent us to replace it, and a team of specialists to sort this out." At that moment, the door to the bridge opened, admitting the leader of said team. He muttered, "Speak of the devil."

Cade Miller walked onto the bridge looking fairly calm, but out of his element. He was more accustomed to troubleshooting communications buoys BEFORE they were released into the vacuum of space. He wasn't too keen on packing his colleagues aboard a military frigate, given that his workshop on Luna was already lacking in room to spare. Being on a small vessel only amplified that feeling.

In any case, Cade asked, "You asked to see me, Captain?"

Allowing some annoyance into his tone, Bjorn answered, "Yes, the briefing stated that we're being sent out here because this buoy's acting strangely enough to warrant investigation. Would you clarify that for the non-technicians present?"

Guessing that Bjorn would be more concerned with the security implications, and uninterested in the more esoteric technical details, he replied, "Captain, the short version is that it's transmitting everything on the internet to an unknown destination, using five percent less energy than it was designed to in the process."

Roger piped up with, "What kind of person would not only tap into the net at a buoy, but go out of their way to make the machine more efficient while they're at it?"

Bjorn knew that even the criminal element among humanity had internet access, and with the available measures to hide the true access point, had no reason to resort to whatever was happening here. He warily asked, "Aliens gathering electronic intelligence?"

Roger wondered, "How would they decipher English, let alone the other human languages? Did someone publish a translation program that includes Prothean?"

Cade informed them, "Not on the open market, but the academic and R&D circuits have such programs. The only reason they work is that the Prothean systems monitored our communications for just that purpose..."

Bjorn added, "Whoever did this is new. In any case, our orders are to deploy the new buoy we brought with us, set it up, and take this one back to Mr. Miller's workshop. Roger, see to it."

Roger nodded and answered, "Yes sir." He turned to the navigator and said, "Lieutenant Pressly, coordinate with the helm and get us in position..."

While his first officer was handling the minutiae, Bjorn took Cade aside and asked him, "How extensively would one of these have to be modified to do what you told us earlier?"

Cade replied, "I don't know, Captain. We've seen taps before, but those always made the power drain worse. My team and I need to examine this personally."

Bjorn raised an eyebrow and asked him, "I trust that you're ALL familiar with the protocols for suspected alien technology?"

A nod. "Yes Captain, we reviewed them on our way here."

"Then head down to the cargo bay. Once the swap is complete, the suspect buoy is all yours."


End file.
